Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys: Classic or Dud?

moss elixir was the first new Hitchcock record that I was on board for — i had spent the previous few years gorging on the rhino / ryko reissues ... in retrospect, it kinda feels like two or three separate albums jammed together, but it still all works for me. "this is how it feels," yeah, that one is fantastic. always loved "heliotrope" too, it just sparkles.

Yeah Heliotrope is gorgeous, plus there’s Mossy Liquor - the versions of De Chirico Street and Beautiful Queen on there are great.

this thread caused me to listen to newer hitchcock- i’d never actually listened to goodnight oslo. It is so very very to “what i want/expect in hitchcock,” and played/arranged really well to my tastes. I almost automatically like it so much that i don’t trust my opinion. I’ll def listen more.

meanwhile his more recent s/t is more “not quite what i want to hear from him- like country-rockified song, or roots americana-fied song? mmm- no? the very slightly different personas he adopts in some of the songs is pretty interesting, i’m not quite sure if i’m just imagining those tho. did this album’s songwriting, esp lyrically, “feel” different to anyone else?

Yes it did. It’s a good album and I REALLY want to see him in front of his current semi official backing band but you can definitely hear Nashville in it.

Spooked of course being a previous record with a strong country side.

Goodnight Oslo is great. Propeller Time kind of rode over it for me though. The goodnight Oslo tunes, like the Ole Tarantula tunes, really came to life on tour imo and so I listen to live recordings when I want to hear them.

I'm not a huge fan of the recent self-titled record but at least his countrified leanings are natural and not an act. It seeps into your pores here in Nashville and he's been here a few years now.

I held no opinion about Robyn Hitchcock until I saw him open for the Psychedelic Furs at a gig I attended in 2017. While the Furs basically left me cold (though part of it was my not being 100% into the concert), Hitchcock awed me with the strength of his songs and surprisingly (for me anyway) witty banter in between songs. He was alone on stage with his guitar but he made his part of the performance feel like something amazing and massive. That's when I became an instant fan of his. BTW, if my friend Stephanie (who is the biggest Robyn Hitchcock fan I know) is checking out this thread, STOP LURKING, SWEETIE! COME JOIN US.

Did RH play "The Ghost in You" at that gig?

is Respect OOP?

Maybe? But there's gobs of cheap CDs on Amazon.

Speaking of Sir Robyn, he's got an EP collaboration with Andy Partridge coming out: https://burningshed.com/store/ape/robyn-hitchcock_andy-partridge_planet-england_cd

I think all the A&M stuff is out of print except maybe the greatest hits cd

The single he released earlier this year, “Sunday Never Comes”, is aces IMO

yeah it is great!

it does seem strange that (arguably) Robyn's most well-known solo material (the A&M years) is so off the radar. Not even streaming, except for that greatest hits. Of course, as noted, easy enough to find it all used, but still.

Thanks for the tip about his recent single, hadn't heard it until now. "Take Off Your Bandages" is particular terrific.

Anyone heard the "Robyn & His LA Squires" 7"? Looks like a fun set of live cuts.

Why can’t I buy these new singles as downloads :(

The latest single is on Amazon Digital.

Oh good!

Playing a couple of streaming shows this week (Dylan covers - one US evening time one UK time):

https://www.stageit.com/Robyn_Hitchcock

He’s starting a $5 month patreon also, where he will post at least 3 unreleased tracks or works in progress a month along with blog type content

His Dylan covers always great live.

Matthew Seligman has been in an induced coma for a couple of weeks with Covid-19 apparently

Fuuuuuuuck no

Big Soft Boys fan but I don’t know much of their history.

This bad news has me looking them up to learn more and it is blowing my mind that Katrina & The Waves features a Soft Boy who was the main songwriter and is responsible for Walking On Sunshine.

Also released his own great album Bible of Bop.

Very sadly, the end is near:

https://www.facebook.com/officialthomasdolby/posts/10157825544533935

Very sad news from Kevin Armstrong just now:

"Friday: Matthew Seligman has suffered a catastrophic haemorrhagic stroke from which he won't recover. It is expected that he will not survive longer than 12/24 hours. His ventilator will be gradually withdrawn until the inevitable end. I am so sad to have to bear this terrible news. I have loved him as a friend and a fellow musician for 40 years.”

Matthew has been on a ventilator in an induced coma for two weeks, after being admitted to St George’s London with Covid-19. He has a partner and two kids living in Wimbledon. Kevin has been liaising with them. He has no other close relatives, as his parents are gone and his brother passed away a month ago.

I don't have words.

I will update this group when I know any more.

ah shit.

I met him after a gig once and he was so kind and really engaged me in conversation.

He's been on some of my all-time favorite albums - Soft Boys "Underwater Moonlight", Robyn's first two solo LPs, Thomas Dolby's eternal "The Golden Age Of Wireless" as well as the follow-up, my favorite Peter Murphy album "Love Hysteria", backed Alex Chilton on "Live In London" as well as a Popguns album. He also worked with Bowie, is on Tori Amos' "Little Eearthquakes" and others.

The man was a pro and a gentleman. I am deeply saddened by this.

that sucks so much. the bass playing on Underwater Moonlight is some of my favorite playing of all time. super melodic but driving. just gives everything an added bounce.

i just started listening to soft boys over the last year, and yes, the performances on Underwater Moonlight are so, so good. sad to hear about him. :(

Has now passed on, apparently.

well fuck this

oh wow! I remember him as the bassist at Bowie's Live Aid appearnace.

Short confirmation from Dolby:

https://www.facebook.com/officialthomasdolby/posts/10157826813258935

Just occurred to me Robyn’s lost two bandmates in the space of a few weeks (rieflin)

NPR paid attention-- I didn't know he'd done all this:
Matthew Seligman, who played bass in the influential English psychedelic band The Soft Boys before joining backing bands for artists including David Bowie, Morrissey, Sinead O'Connor and the Thompson Twins, died Friday evening at St George's Hospital in London. Seligman was admitted in early April for symptoms of COVID-19; he had been on a ventilator for two weeks when, on Friday morning, he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. His death was confirmed by English musician and producer Thomas Dolby, a longtime friend and collaborator. Seligman was 64.
https://www.npr.org/2020/04/20/838752947/matthew-seligman-new-wave-bassist-for-the-soft-boys-and-david-bowie-dies-at-64

backed Alex Chilton on "Live In London" O hell yes! Knox of the Vibrators was on there too, right? Good damn set.

https://www.39essex.com/matthew-seligman-1955-2020/

Wow.

Thank you so much for linking that.

I was really blown away by it- I had no idea.

Absolutely wonderful memorial.

I’ve been really enjoying the weekly shows on Stageit - this week it’s Element of Light in its entirety...

how was it?

how was it?

Oh you don’t say? The Rhino CD of element of light happens to have the best bonus tracks of any robyn CD ever

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uv5cc6mnj5vzj9b/The%20President%20%282020%20version%29.WAV?dl=0

Video version:

https://vimeo.com/426120374

Last week's Eye show:

https://www.facebook.com/robynhitchcockofficial/videos/745575576214056/?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Frobynhitchcockofficial%2Fvideos%2F745575576214056%2F&_rdr

More Eye this week, too.

I have recently gotten a case of the Soft Boys and Robyn Hitchcock fever. i'm still working my way through the thread, and through much of the catalog as well. i have to say, it was an absolute _delight_, earlier, to be listening to the Egyptians 1996 Greatest Hits comp, hearing many of the songs for the first time, especially toward the back half, and then hearing Michael Stipe on "She Doesn't Exist", and loving the song even before realizing it was him or believing it. I wondered if it was Mills for a minute, but then it was clearly Stipe, and it's interesting because the way he sings on that song, from 1991, seems like it prefigures a shift in how he would sing with REM in the mid-to-late 90s. it almost sounds like the the way he would sing a song on Up or Reveal or parts of New Adventures, I mean. hard to explain, but it was just so excellent to hear his voice out of nowhere (along with Peter Buck's playing. damn they were on a roll back then)

i also have some other thoughts but i want to read the thread first. hitchcock's lyrics. i mean, i'll say this, you notice them. i mean, i know RH has the reputation of being "weird" but i am hoping i don't get to the mid-2010s part of the thread and find that he straight up murdered people, lol *grimace*

one additional first reaction to listening to a lot of the catalog all at once - it's kind of amazing how the older hitchcock gets, the more he sounds exactly like robert pollard (or very much vice versa)

i mean, i know RH has the reputation of being "weird" but i am hoping i don't get to the mid-2010s part of the thread and find that he straight up murdered people, lol *grimace*

afaik there's nothing out there too ugly about him, i basically assume he was not the easiest person to deal with around the time of the Soft Boys and i wouldn't have wanted to be in a romantic relationship with him then but that's about it. his political leanings seem fairly good, and while "Uncorrected Personality Traits" might be a little questionable (and obviously tongue-in-cheek) he seems to have pretty warm-hearted and open-minded thoughts on gender fluidity, particularly for an aging British man.

I think the era that Greatest Hits comp covers is not my favorite, the production tends to mar the songs a bit, but there's still plenty of good stuff there. It's weird trying to navigate his catalog, albums get re-released, re-ordered, with outtakes added in and certain songs deleted. Wonderful b-side (or something) from that era that seems to have vanished from his official re-releases: "Ghost Ship." On the other hand I had never heard "The Beauty of Earl's Court" until a few years ago when it showed up on the reissue of Eye.

after skipping ahead and listening to some of the Venus 3, i am very much looking forward to seeing where he goes. there are some excellent songs. "Luckiness", despite the trope of the format (almost every line starts with Lucky, manages to be interesting throughout and surprising and even touching, at times. also a lovely performance -- it's kind of shocking to hear the crowd clap at the end after what sounds like a studio cut